After 16 years kept wrongfully behind bars, Robert "Rider" Dewey survives on $698 a month in Social Security payments and much-appreciated donations from members of the public. He has no access to credit or to vocational training.

His exoneration in April for the 1994 rape and murder of a Palisade woman united unlikely allies across the legal community, both to set free an innocent man and in the call for compensation for those who've been wrongly convicted.

But putting pen to paper to draft a bill for the next legislative session is testing that alliance as divisions emerge over exactly what type of convict should qualify for state payouts.

Robert Dewey says he was released from prison without an ID card, money or help finding housing or education about how to access public benefits. "I'm like deer in headlights now," he says. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Rep. Angela Williams, a Denver Democrat who's gathering opinions from prosecutors and defense-minded advocates, is still working to hammer out the more controversial details of the bill she'll sponsor when the state legislature convenes in January.

"Everyone believes this is the right thing to do," Williams said. "The easy part of this is deciding 'What do we give them?' The hard part is figuring out all the different scenarios that could happen in a court room" and who counts as "wrongfully convicted."

Williams said she wants to put in place some sort of safety net that includes counseling, job training, help accessing public benefits and money to compensate men and women for their lost years. Colorado is one of 24 states that offer no financial compensation to people such as Dewey upon their release.

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Some defendants cleared after being imprisoned can sue. Tim Masters, cleared after serving 10 years for the murder of Peggy Hettrick, was able to sue Larimer County and Fort Collins police in federal court because there was prosecutorial misconduct in his case, an option that would not be available to defendants like Dewey. Masters settled for a combined $10 million.

As a poster case for state compensation of wrongfully convicted individuals, few candidates are more ideal than Dewey.

Faulty DNA analysis led to his conviction after a much flawed investigation into the death of Jacie Taylor. Throughout his trial and afterward, he never wavered from his claim of innocence.

Additional DNA testing eventually pointed authorities to another suspect in Taylor's murder. In other words, Dewey was not only "not guilty" — a term that can also mean prosecutors just didn't have enough evidence to convict someone — it was determined that he absolutely didn't commit the crime.

Model legislation circulated nationally by the Innocence Project — the organization that played a major role in both exonerating Dewey and providing him post-release support — would offer state benefits to a much broader variety of convicted individuals.

People who receive pardons and those, such as Masters, freed because of misconduct by prosecutors would qualify under their template.

So would defendants who entered a guilty plea and later had their conviction overturned, an allowance that troubles Colorado prosecutors, said Tom Raynes, director of the Colorado District Attorneys Council.

"Conceptually, we think there may be a place for this legislation," he said, "but it depends on how it's structured."

Raynes said his group has something far more limited in mind — like blocking those who seek state funds from also suing in federal court and requiring evidence of innocence, such as the DNA present in Dewey's case.

Williams said she's confident that by the time the legislative session opens, she'll have a bill that both sides can support.

As for Dewey, he just needs help, and the sooner the better.

He's been able to buy clothing — like the denim and leather he wears to ride his motorcycle — with help from the Innocence Project in New York, but he's eager to be able to stop relying on charity. While behind bars, a lifer like him didn't qualify for computer classes or vocational training, and a serious back injury has prevented him from doing the type of manual labor he supported himself with before his conviction.

He told Williams on Monday that he'd been released from prison without an ID card, without any money and without help finding housing or education about how to access public benefits.

"They just threw me out here. I'm like deer in headlights now," Dewey said. "But I don't know how you'd do it, write the legislation."

CLARIFICATION: Montana is one of the 24 states, like Colorado, that does not provide financial compensation for people wrongfully convicted. However, Montana does offer some educational assistance to those cleared by post-conviction DNA evidence testing.

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